Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Cyprus and from Delhi.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Mexico City and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Madrid kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975 at the first Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the linndrum sounds with much patience.
I was there when Holger Czukay started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Iggy Pop to the grime kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Inner City. All the underground hits.
All Lakeside tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bob Dylan record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and an arpeggiator and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Heaven 17 record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your 808 and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a 808.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Pierre Henry,
MC5,
Sister Nancy,
Icehouse,
Gian Franco Pienzio,
John Lydon,
Kerrie Biddell,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Man Parrish,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
The Grass Roots,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Alphaville,
Yaz,
Lyres,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Chrome,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Khruangbin,
Rufus Thomas,
Aswad,
Main Source,
Brand Nubian,
Average White Band,
Gang Starr,
Wings,
The American Breed,
Fifty Foot Hose,
Rapeman,
Reagan Youth,
DNA,
Derrick May,
Lakeside,
The Human League,
Shuggie Otis,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Scratch Acid,
The Skatalites,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Kurtis Blow,
Arcadia,
Throbbing Gristle,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Dual Sessions,
Los Fastidios,
The Mojo Men,
Curtis Mayfield,
The Tremeloes,
China Crisis,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Avey Tare,
Ronan,
Fela Kuti,
Young Marble Giants,
Graham Central Station,
Aloha Tigers,
The Walker Brothers,
June Days,
Sugar Minott,
The Fall, The Fall, The Fall, The Fall.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.